G L

Re sheep…sheep secrete a waxy substance called lanolin which coats and protects their wool. The lanolin is removed when most wool is processed after shearing. The lanolin extracted is also made into many moisturizing and skin protective products. Some more minimally processed wools in their natural colors retain enough lanolin that garments knitted from the yarns will retain a degree of natural water resistance.

When I was a tot, back in the 40’s, our tree stand was also a music box and built so that the tree holder revolved while the hand cranked music box played Stille Nacht and Adeste Fideles. It came over to the US with the great grandparents from Bavaria in the 1890’s. A real tree would have been too heavy for the mechanism and so our artificial tree made of mostly wire, paper and cardboard did the honors. Decked out with equally old glass ornaments and icicles and strings of electric lights, yes it was wired, it was in our eyes beautiful. We also followed the German custom of presents on Christmas Eve followed by midnight church. The music box/stand was inherited by an older cousin so I have no idea if it is still in use these many decades later but I will never forget the enchanting way it sang and revolved.

I am not normally a member of the grammar police as it is obvious that languages change and I do appreciate some new idiomatic usages. But….Sam’s column is the second time this week that I have encountered a reference to “acceding to a throne”. To accede to something is to yield, as to a point of view, or to accept, as to correction but has nothing to do with rising in rank. The correct term would be either “ascend to the throne” as a rise in stature by your own effort or “succeed to the throne” because you are next in the hereditary line of succession. Since in this case, Catherine held the rank of Tsarina as the wife of a Tsar and not as a part of the regular line of succession, the correct term would be ascended. Especially since she ascended to the throne as a result of a coup which she headed.

As one who pays little to no attention to sports, the team attributions were decidedly not in my wheelhouse. Luckily the answers as clued minus the sport league thing were, although I really wanted TRAINEE ANGEL for Clarence. Funny how sometimes a theme is no help at all with one puzzle but vital with another.

I usually go into Fridays expecting a slog, so today turned out to be better than usual. I totally surprised myself by getting 33A with only the last three letters plus the T of 8D. It just popped fully formed into my mind. 8D was providential as I had just lately been talking about “sunk cost fallacy” with a friend but in a political rather than economic context. So there I was with the two crossing grid spanners plus most of the east side done quickly but had to go back and forth through the rest and ended up about 2 minutes longer than my average. The Dr vs Doc thing got me for a long time but looking thru the comments I see I certainly wasn’t alone.

Lucky that 15a solved with crosses but I still had no idea what it meant. I was born in St. Louis and although we moved when I was 10 we still went back to visit a lot and then moved back 7 years later. I also lived there for a year in the mid 1980’s and still keep in touch with friends. I have NEVER heard the city of St. Louis called The Lou! Can anyone explain where this abomination came from?

Re John Hancock’s signature…as the president of the Continental Congress, he signed first and, as was customary, centered his signature beneath the text. Two other explanations have been advanced, according to my high school civics teacher…One, he wanted to make sure the King could read his signature without glasses and Two, since signing the document at all would be a death sentence if the rebellion failed, he figured he ‘might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb’. Two takes on the same motive.

Deb’s choices for illustrations of trolls and ogres are a modern prettied up and much less frightening version of the original critters. I grew up on older versions of fairy tale illustrations of, for example, Grimms Fairy Tales and other Northern European and Scandinavian tales. Trolls are usually human based but much more hairy and toothy and equipped with nasty claws and hunched over in an animalistic way. Ogres are clearly human but large and muscular with nasty scowling faces and voices usually described as low and growling like a bear. Not to mention they are frequently shown at a table with pots of stewed human babies for dinner. In these they sure seem like different creatures but certainly not what anyone would care to encounter.

Much sympathy for your father’s passing Deb.

About the 13 thing…is there a single term combining pretentious and twee?

As a public service to those using the App on an iPad, disregard any suggestion to use the number keyboard to get an equal sign as you will not find it. The solution is to use the rebus function and enter the whole word EQUALS. Don’t just type EQUAL! What we have here is a double failing…the iPad app does not include the complete symbols keypad and the puzzles editors cavalierly include puzzles needing symbols with no hint to app users. Boo. Hiss.

Sorry Damon, both 2016 and Jeb are an eon ago and are currently less even than stale. I think when we go back thru the archives (going backward and currently at 2015), we expect formerly current events to tax our memories. But for a crossword published in the now, current events, especially political ones, should actually be current.

Can someone explain why 19D turned blue and yellow if the diagonal blacks are the swizzle stick? I like the green and red olive but the vertical color of three blue and one yellow is just weird.

Quick note on today’s mini. 1D clue references a film about an historic Greek, specifically Spartan, battle. The answer is a Roman garment, not Greek. The loosely corresponding Greek garment was a himation.